Label-coating machine.



G'. E. INMAN. LABEL COATING MACHINE.

I APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 21, 1907. 1

91 1,241 Patented Feb. 2, 1909.

z SHEEN-SHEET 1.

'MJeJ E- G. E. INMAN.

LABEL comma MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 21, 1907.

91 1,241. Patented Feb. 2, 1909."

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

4 3 I 2 as UNITED srnrns PATENT ornron.

GEORGE INMAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

To all whom it may concern: I

LABEL-COATING momma.

Be it known that LGEORGE E. InMAma-ci-tizen of the United States, and, a resident of 'Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Irn rovements in Label-Coating Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is 7 a full, clear, and exact description thereof, refa 7 apply a thin layer of glue or other a hesive ing my invention.

-.a rear elevation of the machine.

material to pieces or sheets of paper used for labels, wra pers or stickers.

The object o the invention is to provide a machine ada ted for applying adhesive material to s eets of various sizes, and to provide means whereby the adhesive material may be a plied regularly and smoothly and in desire thicknesses or quantity to .al

parts of the surface to be coated therewith.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and more particularly pointed out in the ap ended claims.

In the drawings:. igure 1 is a view in end elevation of aeoating machine embody- Fig. 2 is a sectional view, taken on line 22 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is Fig. 4 is,a detail sectional view of the right hand end of the machine, taken on line 44 of Fig.3. Fig. 5 is a sectional view, taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in section, showing the.

frame for supporting the rollers, and the means for varying the vertical distances between the conveyer roller and the transfer roller. Fig. 7is a sectional view showing the means for holding all points of the surface to be coated in contact with the transfer roller.

As shown in the drawings, 1 indicates a glue trough 'or receptacle, adapted to contain glue or other adhesive substance. Said trough 1 is mounted u on su ports or legs 2, 2-Wlli0h are fastened t ereto by bolts, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, or otherwise.

3 indicates a rotative supply or conveyin roller which extends longltudinally of sai Specification of Letters Patent. Application flied November 21, 1907. Serial No. 403,156.

Patented Feb. 2,

4, 4 whichturn in bear s 6, 6 formed in the lower part of frame stan ards 5, 5 which are attached by bolts or otherwise to the end walls of the trough 1, as shown in Fig. 1.

7 indicates a rotative transfer roller which extends parallel with the roller 3 and by which the adhesive material is transferred from the roller 3 to the sheets of aper to be coated. Said roller 7' is provide with trunnions 8, 8 which are supported and turn in bearing blocks 9, 9 whic bearing blocks are mounted vertically in vertical guide slots 10, in the upper parts of the frame standards 5, 5, as s own in Fig. 6. y

A belt pulley 10 is loosely mounted upon a stud bolt 11 extending outwardly from and at a right angle to, one of the end walls of the glue trough 1. The hub of said pulley 10 is provided with an inwardly extending, annular flange 13 on its side nearest the glue trou h. Said flange 13 is provided with a clutc member 14 adapted for interlocking engagement with a clutch member 15 of a pinion 16 rotatively mounted on the stud olt 11, between the trough 1 and the wheel 10. For operating the said clutch, a lever idly astened to the end of the trunnion 4 of the roller 3, outside of the glue trou h, and

intermeshes with the pinion 16. T e gear wheel 22 is considerabl larger than the pin ion 16, so that the ro er 3 is rotated at a slower speed than the pinion 16. A gear wheel 23 is likewise rigidl mounted upon the end ofthe trunnion 8 o the roller 7, outside of the frame standard 5 and intermeshes with said gear wheel 22.

wardly extending trunnion 8 o the roller 7 adjacent to the outer face of the gear wheel 23 and concentric therewith. 25 and 27 indicate oppositely rotating, parallel feed rollers mounted in bearings rovided in the upper forward part of the ame standards 5, 5, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Said feed rollers extend in front of and parallel to the roller 7 the roller 25 being superposed upon the roller 27 The lower roller 27 is permanently mounted in the bearings provided in the frame standard 5, and is not capable of vertical movement, but the trunnions 26 of the upper roller 25 slide in A second gear 1 wheel 24 is rigidly mounted u on the out- .wardly against the bearing the roller 27, are each provided with intermeshing gear wheels 29 and 30, respectively. The feed rollers are driven from the gear wheel 24 through" the medium of an idler wheel 31 which is rotatively mounted on a stud bolt 32 on the frame standard 5, and intermeshes with said gear wheels 24 and 30.

By the system of gear wheels and pinions described and illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings, it is clearly obvious that,'when power is applied to turn the wheel 10in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1, the pinion 16, the gearwheels 23 and 24 and .,the pinion 30, will all be turned in the same direction, while the same power will cause the gear wheel 22, the idler 31, and the pinion 29, to rotate in an opposite direction.

The gear wheels hereinbefore described are so proportioned that the surface speed of the transfer roller 7 is greater than that of the feed rollers 25 and 27.

For holding the transfer roller 7 yieldingly and adj ustably at a desired distance from the conveying roller 3, a construction "is provided as follows: Coiled springs 33, 33 are located in each of the frame brackets 5, the lower ends of which sprin s press downblocks 9, 9 and serve to hold the roller 7 in contact with the roller 3. The upper ends of said springs 33 bear against follower lates 34 which slide in the guide slots 10. pright adjusting screws 35, 35 extend through a screw-threaded aperture provided in a cap plate 12 which extends across the top of the slot 10. Said screw acts downwardly on the said follower late. By turning said adjusting screw 35, t e ressure of the springs 33 upon the bearing locks 9 may be varied as desired to increase or decrease the pressure of the transfer roller 7 upon the conveying roller 3. Y

The frame brackets 5 are each provided, at the bottom of the slot 10 therein, with an inwardly extending screw-threaded aperture 37, at right angles to said slot 10. An adjusting. screw 38, provided with a head 39 extends throu h said aperture 37. The inner end or point of said screw 38 is conical or tapered, as shown in Fig. 6, and engages the lower face of the bearing block 9. Said lowerface of the bearing block is beveled to form a downwardly facing surface for contact with the conical end of the screw 38. The conical ends of said adjusting screws obviously constitute adjustable stops for limiting the downward movement of the bearing blocks 9, 9. It is obvious that by turning the adjusting screws 38 in a direction to move the same inwardly the bearing blocks 9 will be caused to rise in the slots 10,

and the distance between the rollers 3 and 7 will be increased and that by turning the screws 38'in the reverse direction, gravity and the pressure of the springs 33 will cause the bearing blocks 9 to descend and the rollers 3 and 7 to approach each other.

A fixed bar 41 extends between the u per ends of the frame standards 5 and to sai oar 41 is secured a guide plate 42, which extends between said frame standards 5, parallel to the roller 7. To the front vertical sides of said angle bar 41 are fastened a plurality of downwardly extending, flexible presser fingers 43' spaced closely together along and adapted to bear against the roller 7. Said presser fingers 43 are tapered or pointed, and rest at their ends light y upon the top surface of the roller 7, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 7. The guide plate 42 is made generally of inverted U-shape in cross-section, with its lower portion a short distance above the top of the roller 7. Said guide plate is provided in its lower ortionwith a plurality of guide slots 44 and the said presser fingers severally extend downwardly through said guide slots by which said fingers are held from lateral movement or displacement. The purpose of said presser fingers is to act on the u per surface of the sheets which are carried between said fingers and the transfer-roller 7, so as to press said sheets into close contact with the coated surface of said roller. The slots 44 are provided in the guide plate 42, in order to guard against the fingers 43, which are made very thin in order to have the required flexibility, leinglaterally bent or distorted or displaced through accidental causes.

It is to be observed that because of the ex treme flexibility of said fingers 43 and of the fact that their ends or points are directed rearwardly or in the direction of rotation of the roller 7, I am enabled to taper the same to very fine points without incurrin the danger of the outer face of the sheets )ein torn or scratched thereb Another, and important purpose of the ne tapered points upon the finger ends is to guard against the transmission of lue from the surface of the roller 7 to the s eet being coated. As the coated sheet passes from under the fingers over the roller 7, said fingers necessarily come in contact with the glue upon the surface of said roller, where they will remain until raised .therefrom by the action of the next incoming sheet from the feed rollers. The period of time during which the fingers rest upon the roller 7 is dependent upon the speed of the o erator in sup lying the labels to the feed ro ler. While tie finger oints necessarily receive a small amount of glue, by reason of their contact with the surface of the roller 7, it is to be observed that, be cause of the very fine points on the ends of said fingers, the advanceedge of the incoming sheet will effectually wipe off this glue and substantially none of the same will be transmitted tothe fronts of the sheets by the said fingers.

Aplurality of stripper fingers 45 are catedat the rear of the roller 7, as lainly in-. I

loosely mounted upon a pivot rod- 46, ex-

tending through said apertures parallel with,

tween their ends and a rod 48,

tures in all of the fingers, as shown in at the rear of and somewhat below the said roller 7, the ends ofsaid rod 46 being. rotatively mounted in brackets 47, provided on the frame brackets 5, as shown 1n Figs. 1, 2

and 3. Each of said stripper fingeis is provided with an annular flange, surrounding the-aperture in the lower end thereof, the outer rim of which flange contacts with the side of the adj acent finger and prevents any lateral movement thereof. fingers are forwardly inclined from the rod 46, and the upper ends thereof rest in contact with the surface of the roller 7.

Said upper ends of the fingers 45 are tapered to a point and the upper surfaces of the fingers are outwardly curved, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.-"The said fingers are apertured lzearallel with the pivot rod 46,.passes throug said a er- 1 s. 1 and 2, said rod being provided at its en ils with heads to hold it from endwise movemnt.- The diameter ofsaid a ertures in the fingers is considerablylarger t an the diam- .eterof the rod, this construction admitting a of slight oscillatory movement of each stripper finger 45 independently of the others. T1118 construction is necessary because of the fact thatjparticles: of foreign substances ,or

hard lumps of glue occasionally reach and I .adheretoitheroller-:7, and the inde endent movement of the fingers as aforesair allows any finger torise tov ermit the passage under the point thereof 0 such particles without aifecting'the stripping action of the other fingers. It is to he observed that, inasmuch as the tapered pointsof the stripper fingers 45 rest against'the surfaceof the roller 7 and the frame'standards 5, and are adapted for" backward and forward movement relative to the roller 3, the movement of the bar toward the roller being effected by means of adjustingsorews 50. Said adjusting screws extend through screw -threaded apertures the bar in itsadjusted position.

The said stripper rovided in vertical bracket arms 51 on the rame standards 5, as shown in-Figs. 1 and 2.

Moreover, the ends of said bar 49 are provided with. laterally extending slots through which extend upright bolts 52, 52 extending into the brackets on the frame standards, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, and acting to hold the bar from rising. When it is desired to adjust the bar'49, the bolts 52 are loosened,

the ad'ustin screws 50'turned to carry the bar a esirer distance toward the roller, and the said bolts 52 are then tightened to ho'ld The purpose of the bar 49 is to control the thickness of the layer of adhesive material carried by the conveyer roller 3 to the transfer roller 7.

Moreover, said bar serves to remove foreign articles and lumps of glue which may adhere to the roller 3.

A steam coil 53, connected with a suitable source of supply (not shown in the drawings) is located in a chamber 54 beneath the glue trough 1. The steam circulates in said coil and serves to heat the glue to the desired temperature, in order that it may be roperly taken up by the roller 3 and trans erred to the roller 7. A work-table 55 is provided at the front of the machine to hold the sup 1y of uncoated sheets or labels, while a simfiar table 56 is provided at the rear of the machine to receive the labels after they have been coated.

As shown in the drawings, the feed rollers are arranged to advance the sheets in a substantially horizontally ath and the axis of the transfer roller is so ocated that the top of said transfer roller is considerably above the level of such ath. As a consequence, the sheetsfd b the feed rollers first strike the transfer rol er at theup'wardly movin side thereof, with the result that the forwar edges thereof are brou ht into immediate contact with the roller, without the use of any uides between the feed rollers and said transer roller.

In the operation of the machine the 0 erator inserts the sheets between the eed rollers 25 and 27 which car it forward until its front edge reaches t e upwardl moving surface of the roller 7 where it wil be caught by the adhesive material on said roller and caused to attach itself. to the surface thereof. When the front edge of said sheet reaches the fingers 43, any glue which may have been left on the ends thereof will be taken off thereby. The presser fingers are made so yielding, or act with such light ressure as to allow the label to easily pass t ereunder, and all of the fingers will exert a light pressure u on the sheet from the front edge to the bac thereby insuring a IOPGIV contact between the under surface of the label and the glued surface of the transfer roller. The front edge of the label, after passing under the fingers 43, will be taken off the roller, at its downwardly moving side, by the stripper fingers 45 from which the sheets may be received by the operator and laid for drying upon the table 56.

A great advantage of the differential s eed between the feed rollers 25 and 27 an the transfer roller 7, is to obtain a brushing effect between the surface of the transfer roller 7 and the under surface of the sheet being coated. After the incoming label fromthe feed roller has been gripped by the glue on the transfer roller,- the rear end of the said sheet will be held between the said feed rollers by the gripping action due to the gravity of the roller 25. As the surfaces of the rollers 25 and 27 move more slowly than the surface of the roller 7, the label is not fed on to the roller 7 at the same rate of speed as that of the coated surface of rotation of said roller 7. It follows that a brushing effect will be produced between these two surfaces which will result in an equal and uniform distribution of the adhesive material on the sheet. It is to be noted that the weight of the roller 25 is sufficient to prevent the label from being pulled through between the feed rollers by the adherence thereto of the glue on the transfer roller, at the same splcied as that of the surface of said transfer ro er.

It is to be noted that the roller 7 hereincalled a transfer roller is, in fact, an applying roller operating essentially as a means for applying to the sheets to be coated, adhesive material which has been previously applied to said roller. It follows that, so far as the principal feature of my invention is concorned, the means employed for furnishing the said roller 7 with its coating of adhesive material is not essential, and said roller ma itself dip at its lower part in a body of the a hesive material, or such material may be applied thereto by the use of any desired or preferred means.

I claim as my invention 1. A coating machine comprising a trough,

a rotative conveying roller which extends downwardly into said trough, a rotative transfer roller receiving adhesive material from the upper part of said conveying roller, feed rollers acting to feed the paper against the upwardly moving side of said transfer roller, presser fingers acting yieldingly on the 11 per part of said transfer roller, a plurality of stripper fingers bearing against the downwardly moving side of said transfer roller, and a scraper bar acting on the upwardly moving side of the conveying roller.

2. In a coating machine, the combination with the transfer roller, of a plurality of flexible presser fingers and a guide-plate for said fingers provided with a plurality of parallel guide slots through which said fingers extend.

8. In a coating machine, the combination with a rotative transfer roller, of a plurality of stripper fingers mounted to turn.on a common axis, said fingers being provided with apertures, and a rod extending through said apertures parallel withthe pivotal axis of the fingers, said apertures being larger than the rod to afford relative oscillatory movement of the fingers.

4. In a coating machine, the combination with a trough, a conveying roller, a transfer roller located above the conveying roller, of vertically movable bearings for said transfer roller, and means for effecting vertical adjustment of said bearings comprising h'orizontally arranged adjusting screws rovided with conical ends engagin incline downwardly facing bearing sur aces on the said bearings.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature in the resence of two witnesses, this 18th day of lovember A. D. 1907.

GEORGE E. INMAN.

Witnesses:

SANFORD E. BROWN, GEORGE R. WILKINS. 

